News and views about the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 and other legislation, schemes and policies impacting the Right to Education of India's Children.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Arpita Sarkar, TNN | Sep 4, 2013, 04.57AM IST
INDORE: A slew of initiatives taken to encourage admission under the
Right to Education (RTE) Act are paying rich dividends. At the end of
third round of admission under the Act in the state, number of students
this year has exceeded that of last year's number in four rounds, going
by official data gathered from the School Education Department.

This year, admissions were up by 25%. Sources from the department said
admissions were given for 1,43,756 seats under the RTE in 50 districts
against 1,38,612 in 2012-13. According to data, admission in all
districts went up against that of last year's total admission in
respective districts. Fourth round of admission is almost over and final
report will be compiled soon.

Joint director, school
education department (Indore division) SB Singh said in Indore,
admission rate is around 64% and nearly 9,670 seats are lying vacant by
the end of the third round. He attributed the rise in number of
admissions to initiatives.

The surprise
factor in an otherwise encouraging development is Indore registered
lowest admission rate in the division followed by Burhanpur and
Alirajpur. In Indore, of 18,863 seats admission on 12,479 seats are
filled up. By the end of second round, admission percentage was 32%,
improved to 64%, Singh said. But it is also learnt that many students
have dropped out of school in the current session.

While many
districts in the state failed to fill all seats, private schools in
Barwani has given more than 100% admission, recording an impressive
admission rate of 133%. In Barwani, the number of admissions were 4,089
against 2,879 seats. RTE in charge A K Bendwal told there is a provision
in the Act that school can give admission on more than mandatory 25%
seats and there is no cap on it. "There might be a possibility of
schools getting lot of applications from the SC/ST category and schools
have availed the benefit of the Act," the officer added.

Ironically, the data showed that no new admission in Khandwa, Khargone
and Dhar districts and admission figures remained same by the end of
third round. Sources told that these districts being small in size,
parents who were aware of the RTE had already admitted their children in
the second round. In Burhanpur, the number dropped from 1,210 seats to
941 in third round.

Social workers, who closely work on RTE
admission told that many students in Indore dropped out of school facing
problem in private schools.